Joe sat alone on the small couch, watching Alex Trebek ask difficult questions of contestants on Jeopardy!.
“I’ll help, if you’ll let me.” Maude could see the woman’s movements were practiced, as though the limp had been there awhile. Gloria noticed her looking, and shook her head.
“I’m fine. The accident happened a long time ago, and I hardly notice it anymore.”
“Excuse me, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Maude was embarrassed she’d been caught staring.
“Why sure.” Gloria smiled, relaxing. “I understand. When it first happened, I was in real bad shape, thought I’d never walk again because of my injuries: broken hip, femur, several ribs fractured; but as you can see, that wasn’t true. I was lucky.”
Maude waited as the woman poured sugar into a bowl and added a container of powdered creamer to a tray.
“Were you in a car accident?” Maude asked sympathetically.
“No.” Gloria smiled nervously. “It was a…household accident. I…was taking care of Anna while Mary and Casper were at work. She was ten, and it was summer, with school out. I carried a basket of laundry downstairs—they lived in a split-level house back then—and stepped onto one of Anna’s roller skates. I didn’t remember seeing it on the way up, but going back down, there it was, waiting to carry me to hell. When I hit the bottom of the stairs I knew I was hurt bad, maybe dying, but it had happened so fast, I had trouble believing I wasn’t in a dream.”
“What happened after that?”
“I screamed at Anna to call her mother, but she had already gone outside. I guess…she didn’t see me fall.”
Maude waited a moment for the woman to continue. “You sound as though you’re unsure about what the girl might have seen.”
“Well, she was angry at me because I wouldn’t let her go skating with her friends. Mary had told me to keep Anna at home because she was grounded. After I fell, the girl disappeared. Then later, when I pulled myself across the floor to the phone and called Mary, Anna came back inside, and said she was sorry I had stepped on her skate, but maybe I should be more careful.”
“Do you think she was sorry, Gloria?”
“Well…I…no, I don’t think she was. I even thought for a while she’d put the skate there, hoping I would fall.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I don’t know that I changed my mind. I just put it out of my thoughts,” Gloria said, carrying the pot of coffee to the table where Joe sat.
“She was a headstrong child, and there was almost nothing she wouldn’t do to get her way. A selfish girl, pretty and even deceitful, but I couldn’t believe she would try to hurt me because she was angry.”
Sitting across from the woman, Maude sipped her sweetened coffee. Joe took his toward the end of the couch, and seemed caught up in the television program, but Maude knew he was giving her space, hoping to avoid a break in Gloria’s story.
“How long have you lived with Mary?” Maude was enjoying the coffee; it had already been a long day, and they had a long way to go before reaching home. Caffeine would be necessary to keep her alert.
Gloria seemed relieved that the line of questioning was no longer about her accident. “Casper died six years ago, and I’ve been here ever since then. Before that, I stayed a few times, helping Mary, that is, until the accident. After that, I stayed in my apartment. My husband, Glenn, died when he was a young man, just forty-two. Heart attack, the doctor said. I lived with my daughter after that, until she graduated college and got married. It seemed foolish to keep an apartment, since Mary owned this house, and wanted me to come. Casper’s heart attack had happened so fast; it was devastating for my sister.” Gloria seemed disturbed, and carefully added creamer and sugar to her coffee, as though the lightest touch could cause the cup, and her composure, to shatter.
Maude had dealt with the victims of trauma and abuse before, and Gloria fit the profile of someone who had escaped a bad situation, but feared something even worse might happen. A ten-year-old kid who deliberately caused her aunt to fall down a flight of stairs was a disturbed child. How many more “accidents” happened because of Anna Singleton? Just as Maude was considering the question, Mary Singleton arrived home, her arms full of grocery bags. Joe jumped up to help, but Mary didn’t know him and pulled back, skirting the young man’s outstretched hands.
“Who are you? Gloria, are these friends of yours?” she asked.
“No,” said her sister. “They’re detectives from Madison. They want to ask you some questions about Anna.”
“Anna? What’s she done?”
Maude considered the choice of words. Usually, when someone was told questions were being asked about a loved one, the person responded, “What’s happened to her. Is she all right?”
“Just routine, Mrs. Singleton. We’re following up on the murder of Ronald Marshall. Of course, he was known in Madison as Marlin Thompson, but we understand how a person from prison uses an alias sometimes to secure a job. It appears he named himself after his hometown.”
“Oh…Ronald. Yes. A really nice boy. I was sorry to hear about his death.” Maude noticed Mary’s words were the same as those of the young man’s mother in describing him. Mary put the bags aside and entered the small living area. Seating herself, she welcomed them in her home after Maude and Joe introduced themselves and showed their identification. “What can I help you with, detectives?”
“Hoping you can clear up some routine questions about your daughter’s marriage to the victim.”
Mary frowned and started to say something, then stopped. After a moment of silence she said, “But that was over four years ago. How can my daughter’s marriage have anything to do with his death?”
“As we said, just routine questions, Mrs. Singleton,” Joe said, picking up where Maude left off. “We’re putting together a picture of the victim’s life.”
“They were married in this town. My husband spared no expense for his little girl.” Mary chewed her lip nervously. “Anna had been out of school for two years when she met Ronald. They were in love, she said. He was still young, eighteen, but seemed older. He went to Baylor for one semester after that then dropped out. The next thing I knew, they wanted to get married. Casper, my husband, worshiped our daughter and could never deny her anything. Nothing his little princess wanted was too much. He borrowed money for her wedding, drowning us in debt. Finally, he gave her away, something I thought he would never do. Me, he would have given away gladly, but not his precious Anna.” Her voice dropped so low Maude had difficulty hearing. Mary stared defiantly at the detective.
Maude caught the “little princess” part, and heard the unspoken accusation in Mary’s voice.
“How did you feel about the young man?”
“I wasn’t happy. I didn’t believe they were old enough to get married, but some of Anna’s friends had been married since high school, and she just couldn’t wait any longer. Anyway, it wasn’t up to me. It was her father who always had the last word. He didn’t give a damn what I thought. Anna was everything to him. Everything.”
“Mary, do you think Anna could have had anything to do with Ronald’s death?” Maude heard a sharp gasp from Gloria.
Mary’s demeanor changed, becoming fearful. “What makes you ask such a question, detective? You’re talking about my daughter.”
“Yes, I know, Mary. It’s a hard question, but I need to hear your answer. So once again, do you think your daughter might have had anything to do with her ex-husband’s death?”
Mary suddenly burst into tears. She refused to look at Maude or Joe, and reached for her sister’s hand.
“I…don’t know what to say, detective. It’s my child you’re talking about. How can a mother say her only daughter might be a murderer? Those words could never come from me, even if they were true.” With that, Mary wiped her eyes and straightened her shoulders. “If you have no more questions, detectives, I will show you to the door.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Joe said,
rising from the couch. “Thank you for your time. Please take my card. Call if you think of anything that might help us find Ronald Marshall’s killer.”
“You won’t hear from me, detective. There’s nothing I can tell you.”
As they were leaving the room, Gloria came to say goodbye. Maude took a moment to give her card to the woman, meeting her eyes for a moment.
They eased into the city car and drove away with Maude at the wheel, allowing Joe to nap a while. He was so quiet, she thought he had fallen asleep.
“Maude,” he said, startling her, “what kind of kid would do that? Who would set up her mother’s sister so she would fall down the stairs? I can tell you, an evil little witch, that’s the kind—one that grows up to be Anna Avery. She killed her ex, now how do we prove it?”
“With good police work, Joe, and lots of luck. Like all egotistical killers, she’ll screw up. And we’ll be there to put the cuffs on.”
Maude drove for an hour before deciding to stop for coffee and convenience store hot dogs. Night wasn’t far off, and she didn’t want to drive the lonely stretches of road in the dark without more caffeine. They pulled over at a gas station and Joe filled the tank while Maude went in, used the facilities, and poured coffee for two. He came in the door and passed her by on his trip into the men’s room. Standing outside, sipping her coffee, Maude decided to smoke her third cigarette of the day. While she was lighting up, her phone rang. It was Gloria Adams.
“Detective,” Gloria whispered, “that girl is bad. The things she did at home were unspeakable. Mary knows it, but won’t face the facts. Anna killed that boy. I’m sure of it.”
“What makes you sure, Gloria?” Maude asked, hoping she could keep the woman talking. “You heard her admit it?”
“I didn’t have to hear her admit it, detective. I heard her plan it. I can’t talk now. Can you meet me somewhere?”
“Yes. I can meet you. Tell me when and where.”
“At the Dairy Queen, over on Sixth Street. In about two hours. Mary will be asleep by then. It’s not that I mind her knowing; she’ll have to before it’s over. I just don’t want her to know it’s me pointing the finger. She’d never forgive me.”
After the disconnection, Joe ambled outside, stretching. “I’m glad to be going home,” he said. “These little burgs are depressing. You can see why the kids leave as soon as they graduate high school. Nothing for them to do.”
She hated to do it, but the sooner the better. “Joe, we’re skipping the hot dogs and going back. Gloria had a change of heart and wants to tell us the truth about Anna. Said she heard her talking about killing Ronald.”
Joe turned and spat into a drainage ditch near the store. “Uh-huh. Figured it was too easy. Want me to drive?”
“Joe, I love you, kid. No, I can get us back. You go ahead and sleep; it’ll take an hour. Then we wait until Gloria shows up at Dairy Queen. We can eat there; a DQ Dude will work for me.”
About an hour later, they parked in the drive of the fast food restaurant and went in. After ordering their food, Maude began writing in her work notebook, catching up.
“You have the recorder, Joe? We’ll need it for Gloria.”
“Yeah, let me test the battery.” Joe turned the device on, but received no sound from it. “Uh-oh, it’s bad. Wonder if there’s a store around?” He walked to the ordering counter and had a conversation with the redhead behind the cash register. Soon, he returned to the table with two triple-A batteries then sat down. He grinned as he changed the old for the new.
“You’re waiting for me to say something insulting, but it isn’t going to happen. Bless that little girl if she gave you those batteries.”
“She didn’t give them to me; sold them for five bucks.” Joe’s grin got wider. “I’ll put in for reimbursement.”
“Jeez, mighty expensive power,” Maude said, and dove into the sandwich and fries in front of her. “Food came while you were gone,” she said. “Better eat before Gloria gets here.”
A half-hour later, Gloria arrived in a small car. Maude remembered seeing it in the yard beside the big dog. For sure, no one would try and steal either. She watched the woman for a minute, and realized they were expected to go to her. Considering Gloria’s physical condition, it was a no-brainer who should do the traveling. The door to the small Audi was unlocked, and Maude got in the front passenger seat as Joe opened the back door and scooted his long-legged body inside. When the pleasantries were over, Maude told the woman that whatever she had to say would be recorded. Expecting an argument, Maude was prepared to turn off the device, but Gloria simply nodded.
“I understand. It will all come out anyway, and if this makes it easier to put that girl where she belongs, then okay. Last month I went to MacArthur with my daughter. She’s thirty-five, very successful in the financial world. There was a convention she had to go to, and I needed to get out of the house. Sometimes Mary and I get on each other’s nerves. Of course, I know it’s usually my fault when we have disagreements. I’m a troublesome person, a burden to my sister.
“That evening, we stayed in the Marriott where the business conference was held, and I intended to take my Kindle and go to bed, read for a while, a sci-fi by Dan Thompson. But my daughter, Penny, short for Penelope, had called Anna and asked her to come to the hotel after the conference. She suggested they go to the hotel bar and have a few drinks, maybe dance with some of the businessmen. Just fun. But see, she didn’t tell Anna I’d come with her. Probably intended to, but forgot. She and Anna had been friends off and on, not best buddies, but neither one had brothers and sisters, so they got together some times.
“I went to bed in the second room of the suite, and was drowsy—my book wasn’t interesting enough to keep me awake—when I heard the door open. I figured it was Penny, forgot something. My eyes opened when I heard the phone ring a couple of times, and Anna answered it. She sounded mad, real mad. I heard her say Ronald’s name, then she got quiet for a minute. A little bit later, she said, ‘Ronald, if you won’t steal the diamonds for me, I don’t need you around. Not only do I not need you, if you don’t do the job, I’ll get someone else to do it and swear you were the one. With your record, it’ll be easy to convince my husband you did it. Why do you think I got the job for you? Because I love you? Don’t be absurd. Just because I let you in my bed, doesn’t mean I love you.’ She yelled for a while, talking about the safety deposit box in the bank, the place her husband stashed the four-carat diamonds. Then she got real quiet again, and I heard her say, ‘I’ll kill you if you even try to tell him. He’s a chump, but he’s my ticket, and you’re never going to tell him about us.’
“Anna slammed the phone on the table then, real hard. I could hear it plainly when it smacked the table. I…think I must have made some noise, because she stopped, and I heard the chair squeak. Her high heels made a clicking sound as she got up, headed for the door to the room where I was hidden. Then someone knocked on the door. It was the maid, bringing towels. I lay there, scared to death, knowing what my niece is capable of. I knew she would kill me to keep me quiet.
“Pretty soon, I heard her on the phone again. I guess she had thought it was the maid making the earlier sound. Anna spoke to Penny and said she had to get back, that something had come up. Then she left the room. I…had to call the maid. I’d been so scared I had an accident.” At that, Gloria blushed.
Maude had sat quietly, not disturbing the woman’s story. Too many sordid tales had come across the Homicide desk for her to question the validity of Gloria’s testimony. Anna Avery was a conniver and a murderer. What they needed was the gun with her prints on it. Thanking Gloria for her bravery, Maude started to get out of the car then turned back for a minute.
“That skate was no accident, was it?”
“No, detective. It wasn’t. She planned it. Laughed at me lying on the floor. I never trusted her after that, but I never pushed her either. One time I caught her looking at me when she was about thirteen, and the hate on he
r face scared me. I never went back around that house until she was gone for good. The only reason she let her parents alone was so they could get what she wanted. If she finds out I knew about what she said to Ronald, she’ll kill me.”
Driving back home, Joe wanted to talk about Gloria’s story. He had logged it as a statement from Gloria Adams, signed along with another piece of paper that read, “The information given is true and accurate.” She’d heard her niece threaten to kill Ronald Marshall, a.k.a. Marlin Thompson. Gloria knew she would be called on when the time came, and even though it upset her to think about testifying before a jury, she was resigned to do the right thing.
“So what’s next, Maude? How do we trap Anna into admitting she killed her ex?”
“What if we get her duped husband to help us? See if he has any cojones. Course, it’s a risk, he might not believe it, and run to her, hoping she’ll deny it.”
Maude sat with the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book in her lap. She had been reading, using a small light attached to the book’s cover. Closing it, she went on, “He has the diamonds, and we now know where they are. What if we can make a deal with him; the district attorney might cut him some slack if he gives up his source for the diamonds. Sounds like someone stole them and Avery is supposed to sell the stash for a cut. Or we could go to the bank with a warrant and get them ourselves, then put the deal before him. I’d rather see him open the box and we’d have him for sure. What do you think, Joe?”
“I think we’ll have to keep Anna busy so she doesn’t get suspicious. That would blow the whole thing. Just say it works, do you think she’ll admit to killing Marshall, even to her husband? What’s to keep her from killing him? Or what if he refuses to testify after all is said and done, and takes his chances with the court?”
“It has to be sweet. We need his involvement. She sees him as her bus ride out of town. I don’t think she’ll double-cross him, but if we can make him believe she has that in mind, he might rethink any doubts he’d had before.” Maude opened the book, finding the text soothing. Funny how still the craving animal lay while she was reading.
The Maude Rogers Murder Collection Page 69
